Pasta Bundt Loaf

This pasta pie is a fun riff on mac and cheese. Food & Wine's Justin Chapple use three types of cheese here: Fontina and cheddar, which melt beautifully, as well as Parmigiano-Reggiano to create the crispest edges.

Pappardelle with Porcini and Pistachios

Pappardelle with porcini mushrooms is Shea Gallante's favorite pasta: "It's great in its simplicity," he says. What makes this version extraordinary are the roasted pistachios, which add a sweet nuttiness.

Mexican-Style Chicken with Penne

Adding a small amount of canned chipotle chiles in adobo (available at most supermarkets) makes a basic tomato sauce smoky and complex. Finishing the dish with queso blanco and chopped cilantro leaves intensifies the Latin flavor.

Pappardelle with Lamb Ragù

Chef Andrew Carmellini serves fresh pappardelle with a ragù of house-ground lamb shoulder cooked in lamb stock. He finishes the dish with fresh ricotta and chopped mint. For an easier version, use store-bought pappardelle, ground lamb and chicken stock, then top the dish with fresh ricotta and mint.

Pasta with Smothered Broccoli Rabe and Olives

Many Mediterranean cooks use clay pots to cook foods without added liquid. In Sicily, the method is called affogato and the pot is an earthenware tegame. In Paula Wolfert's adaptation of a specialty she enjoyed many years ago at the Ristorante Circolo Uliveto, in the Sicilian town of Trecastagni, she substitutes an easier-to-find cazuela for the tegame. She uses it to cook coarsely chopped broccoli rabe (ideally the young, leafy kind) with grated pecorino cheese, briny olives and meaty anchovies, then folds the mixture into boiled pasta and bakes it.

Cheesy Mixed Pasta Casserole with Mushrooms

F&W's Melissa Rubel Jacobson created this recipe to use up extra dried mushrooms and odds and ends of pasta. While the different pasta shapes cook at different rates in the water, they all become tender once baked.